Stop pretending, I am the God of Cooking and I am showing off my cards!

Mapo tofu without tofu?

What kind of dish is this?

Mr. Chen, who had just made an appointment with Shu Yun and Dou Wenjing to lose weight at noon, became interested.

Although losing weight is important, in order to help my brother-in-law improve his cooking skills, I can only postpone the weight loss until tomorrow. After all, my cousin will need my brother-in-law to take care of her in the future, so she cannot be careless about her cooking skills.

Chen Yan didn't even bother to eat the spicy rabbit head at this moment. She looked at Lin Xu and asked curiously:

"How to make Mapo Tofu without tofu? Brother-in-law, are you planning to create any new dishes? Then I have to try it to avoid any mistakes."

You can eat whatever you want, why do you have to make excuses for yourself?

Lin Xu found that once a girl decides to lose weight, the biggest difference is that before she loses weight she eats openly, but after she loses weight she eats secretly.

In short, there is no change in appetite.

In order to let his sister-in-law enjoy the food with peace of mind, he cooperated and said:

"I'm worried that no one will help me check it out, so I'll have to trouble Sister Yan."

"No trouble, no trouble. We are relatives and we should help each other."

Chezi came over and asked:

"Boss, can't you just add water to make Mapo Tofu? Do you also need to use beef bone soup?"

Lin Xu took the disposable lunch box and gave Chen Yansheng spicy rabbit head and said:

"Ma Po Tofu made with beef bone soup has a richer aroma and the soup is better absorbed, which is stronger than using water."

The mission requires perfection, so every step must be perfect.

And if you eat it by yourself, it must be delicious because of it.

If you serve this dish in a store, you have to carefully calculate the cost to avoid losing money and making a profit.

After filling four rabbit heads, Lin Xu was worried that her sister-in-law would not be able to eat enough, so she also filled a large box with some duck and chicken feet, which are famous for Sichuan oil-braised oil.

Then close the lid and put it in an opaque bag.

In this way, no one can tell that there is food inside, and when you hold it in your hand, you don’t feel guilty without seeing anyone.

These actions made Chen Yan feel warm in her heart.

Isn't your brother-in-law too considerate?

"Thank you, brother-in-law. I will come over after I finish my work in the afternoon to help you make the most perfect and delicious dishes."

She took the bag and carried it downstairs, planning to find an old movie and eat while watching it after returning to the office.

When I got downstairs, I saw Dundun sleeping on the roof of the cat house. Mr. Chen, who was in a good mood, raised his hand and rubbed the little guy's head twice:

"Silly Dundun, my aunt has gone back to work. They all lied to me and said that worshiping you will bring good luck. Hum, I won't be fooled..."

Dundun, who was sleeping soundly, was woken up by being rubbed. He raised his paw and patted Chen Yan's arm a few times. After patting him, he breathed a sigh of relief at Chen Yan and then got into his small room.

"Why do you think you bully it?"

Shu Yun came over and put his hand into the cat house to comfort the grumpy little baby who was full of anger.

Chen Yan said proudly:

"The more Yueyue and Lele praise Dundun, the more I want to rub it."

Shu Yun: "..."

Then you are really rebellious.

Seeing Chen Yan carrying a bulging bag, she asked curiously:

"What are you carrying? Food?"

"No, I just grabbed some tomatoes from upstairs to eat as fat-reducing fruit... That's it, I'm going back first, see you in the evening."

Chen Yan originally wanted to tease Dundun again.

But when Shu Yun asked this question, he immediately felt guilty.

Half an hour ago I swore that I was not joking about losing weight this time, but now I am carrying a box of braised meat. If other people want to see it, where can I put my pretty face...

Mr. Chen left the store in a hurry, preparing to drive back to the company to enjoy the delicious food.

Shu Yun couldn't help but look up in the direction of the kitchen:

"It tastes spicy... The boss didn't really pack a bunch of rabbit heads from Building 18, did he?"

in the kitchen.

Lin Xu took out the packaged braised meat to dry, and picked up a spicy rabbit head with red oil on the surface. As soon as he took a bite, he was immediately attracted by the spicy taste.

"Damn, this little spicy taste..."

Although the dishes we had for lunch today were all high-end Sichuan cuisine, and they were all quite delicious, they were neither spicy nor spicy, and it always felt bland after eating too much.

Now he tasted the red oil on the surface of the spicy rabbit head, and his taste buds were suddenly opened.

It is said that spicy Sichuan food is only eaten by Lower Riba people. It seems that I am the one who is saying this!

He took a sip of the red oil on the surface of the rabbit's head, and then ate the finely chopped meat around the eyes. After eating, he became even more addicted to the spicy taste, and then opened the rabbit's mouth and broke the rabbit's head in half.

Eat the little bit of meat on your chin first, and then try to eat the rabbit brains.

The spicy rabbit head is made from skinned rabbit head. There is not a lot of meat. The main thing to eat is the fragrant, glutinous, delicious and spicy rabbit brain inside.

When eating duck heads in the past, Lin Xu thought the most delicious thing was the duck brains. Unfortunately, the portion was too small, just a small bite at a time.

Now I eat the spicy rabbit head. The rabbit brain, which is more than ten times larger than the duck brain, is in my mouth. The feeling of happiness and satisfaction is almost overflowing from my brain.

"Damn, no wonder so many people like to eat rabbit heads. It really tastes good."

The meat on the rabbit head is pretty good. Apart from the rabbit brain, there are only some scraps of meat left, but even with the scraps, these pieces of meat are much larger than the duck head.

Therefore, compared to eating a duck head, eating a rabbit head gives a stronger sense of accomplishment.

Especially picking out a small piece of rabbit meat from some ditches and ridges, it feels as exciting as picking up a level 3 helmet in an inconspicuous little dilapidated house while playing a game.

Enjoyable and enjoyable!

After eating one rabbit head, Lin Xu took a sip of water and was about to have another one when he saw Shu Yun coming to the door.

"Is it really packed?"

"If Chef Dai insists, I can't refuse."

"Did Mr. Chen just mention the rabbit head?"

"Yes, in addition to rabbit heads, there are also goose gizzards and sheep's hooves. There is a big box."

Lin Xu took a packing box and filled a few rabbit heads, then came to the door and handed it to Shu Yun who secretly swallowed:

"It's best to eat with disposable gloves, otherwise your hands will be burning. I'm about to wash my hands."

Shu Yun took it out of his pocket and took out a pair of individually packaged disposable gloves:

"It will be ready when you go upstairs."

After taking the lunch box, the beautiful general manager came to the booth, ready to enjoy the delicious food.

But if I eat it directly, I always feel that I can’t overcome the hurdle in my heart, so I took out the photo of washing tomatoes from the photo album and sent it to the circle of friends:

"Starting from today, start eating tomatoes to lose fat!"

After posting it, the barriers in my heart finally disappeared.

Put on your gloves and eat!

In the kitchen, Lin Xu glanced at the packed rabbit heads. When he came, he felt that there were a lot of rabbit heads, but if everyone tasted one later, they would probably finish them all in one round.

In order to prevent Shen Jiayue from not being able to eat after get off work, he picked up a large lunch box and packed a few rabbit heads and other braised food, as well as a cup of sour plum soup and other food.

Then I packed the bag and called an errand service on my phone.

Since these rabbit heads may not be able to make it to get off work in the afternoon, let’s take advantage of work time to arrange a Chinese afternoon tea for our well-behaved, cute and beautiful baby.

It just so happened that she was also allowed to try the braised food made at Diaoyutai No. 18 Building.

Give her a little surprise by the way.

After running errands and taking the order, Lin Xu handed the packed lunch box to a waiter who came to deliver the food and asked her to deliver it to the service desk on the first floor.

Then wash your hands and start cooking according to the dishes on the order list.

the other side.

Dongming Building in the West Third Ring Road.

Shen Jiayue was sitting at her desk, wearing headphones and watching the online tutorial on custard-filled mooncakes with great interest.

Humph, if you don’t let me learn it, then I’ll do it secretly.

Wait until I make the mooncakes and shock your jaw, Xu Bao!

She used the concentration to take the CET-4 exam and kept writing and drawing in her notebook, recording the ingredient ratio and baking time of the custard-filled mooncakes.

While he was busy, a call came from the door:

"Shen Jiayue, it's yours!"

Um?

what's the situation?

Shen Baobao took off his headphones, confirmed that the errand boy at the door was calling him, and then ran over.

This bit...

What will the errands give me?

When she arrived at the door and saw the packed bags, she was delighted. The way they were fastened was exactly the way Xu Bao packed food.

Could it be that there is food in it?

Returning to her seat, Shen Jiayue quickly opened the tightly sealed packaging bag.

"Yueyue, didn't you just come back from Lin Ji? Boss Lin has prepared delicious food for you again?"

Many of my colleagues have officially become Lin Kee Boys and Lin Kee Girls.

Seeing Shen Jiayue unpacking the packaging of Linji Food, she couldn't help but start joking.

"I don't know either. It's strange. He hasn't given me anything to eat recently, and he's not in the store today. He went to Diaoyutai to learn how to make dipping sauce..."

While he was talking, the package was opened.

After taking out everything inside, everyone saw that it was actually a large box of braised meat, a drink, and two snacks.

Inside was a small note written on a kitchen note:

"I brought some food from Building 18 to see if you like it. If you like it, I will find a way to practice and make sure you can eat it every day. I didn't buy you the first cup of autumn milk tea at the beginning of autumn, so I will give it to you today. The first rabbit head in autumn, there are new surprises after work, okay?”

Looking at the word "mo", Baobao Shen couldn't help but laugh:

"This kind of name has stopped being popular a long time ago, you stinky Xubao. I won't kiss you until you get off work!"

She took out a Hermès wallet from her bag and was about to stuff the note into the innermost part of the wallet when she suddenly felt that it should be exposed.

My Xu Bao’s handwriting is so beautiful, it deserves a compliment, right?

Under the envious eyes of her colleagues, she placed the note on several dishes, took a photo and then posted it on her WeChat Moments:

"I have already drank the 99th cup of autumn milk tea, and my Xubao just remembered this. I love you, and I really want to fly to you and throw myself into your arms right now."

After sending it, Shen Baobao stuffed the note into his wallet as if it were a treasure, and then said to his colleagues:

"Come, come, come and see me. This is the braised food made by Building No. 18 of Diaoyutai. Let's try it. If it tastes good, I will let Xubao make a new one in Linji!"

She no longer cared about the smell of rabbit head.

Because the touch and love brought by that note are more important than any amount of braised food.

While everyone was sharing the braised food, she secretly took out the note and read it.

There is a new surprise after get off work...what kind of surprise will it be?

Really been waiting!

Brilliant Building.

Chen Yan sat in front of the computer, eating delicious rabbit heads and watching "Your Name" played on the 32-inch 4K monitor.

While she was watching it with enthusiasm, she wiped her hands and picked up her phone, intending to share her understanding and feelings about the movie with her circle of friends.

However, as soon as I opened it, I saw the news posted by Shen Baobao.

The note with more than a thousand plus signs in sugar, and the cousin's love that overflowed the screen, made Mr. Chen's feelings disappear without a trace.

Even the rabbit head on the table no longer smells good.

After a while, Mr. Chen, who was choked by dog ​​food and finally recovered, silently posted a message in his circle of friends:

"Tomatoes these days are so sour!"

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the people in the kitchen were tasting braised meat and rabbit heads, while Lin Xu moved half a box of chicken breasts and several kilograms of pig fat from the cold storage, and soaked some pea starch in preparation for making chicken cakes.

The making of chicken cake is relatively easy, but it is very tedious and requires enough patience to make it.

Fortunately, Lin Xu had the skills to make pureed water lotus, and the step of smashing the chicken lotus was done quickly and well.

Once the minced chicken is made, the remaining steps are relatively simple.

Finely smash the pig fat into mincemeat. After smashing it, use a knife to smash the mincemeat into thin slices like you would a chicken breast. Check whether there are any small particles inside that have not been smashed into mincemeat.

After checking, stir together with the chicken breasts.

In order to prevent the chicken cake from falling apart during cooking, Lin Xu deliberately added a little more water starch when making it, which can make the chicken cake form a ball better.

But don't add too much, otherwise these chicken cakes will not be in the shape of tofu, but in the shape of jelly.

Although it won't rot easily in this way, it will lose the tenderness of the chicken cake.

And the dish I want to make with chicken cake today is mapo tofu, not mapo jelly. Too much starch will only be counterproductive.

But... Mapo jelly?

This is a new research direction.

If today's Mapo Chicken Cake doesn't work well, I'll just change it to Mapo Jelly, so as not to drop my perfect skill to Excellent tonight and let 800,000 points go to waste.

After the meat paste was mixed, he brought some small trays, brushed them with lard, covered them with plastic wrap, then put the small trays into the steamer on the wok and started steaming.

Chicken cakes cannot be steamed over high heat, so forget about the steamer cabinet.

Even the steamer was not suitable, so Lin Xu simply placed the basket on top of the wok. This method did not seal tightly and the steam leaked everywhere.

This steamed bun may not work, but the steamed chicken cake is just right.

Not long after, the chicken cake was steamed.

Lin Xu took it out and took a look. It was steamed well. It was tougher than the one Dai Jianli made at noon. In terms of feel, it was closer to the gypsum tofu used to make Mapo tofu.

The chicken cake is steamed and set aside to dry.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, he grabbed a handful of Sichuan peppercorns, put them in an oil-free wok, and roasted them slowly over low heat.

When the Sichuan peppercorns are fragrant, place them on the chopping board, crush them with a rolling pin, and put them into a bowl. This will become the Sichuan peppercorn noodles that must be sprinkled on Mapo Tofu before it is cooked.

The pepper noodles were ready. Lin Xu cut a small piece of beef from the cold storage and brought it over.

Mapo Tofu is a dish that requires beef to stir-fry the sauteed seeds. This will make the dish more fragrant. If minced pork is used, the effect will be much worse.

Slice the beef, shred it, and finally trim it into pieces the size of mung beans.

Although many tutorials mention mincing beef into minced meat, the exact method is to cut it into small pieces the size of mung beans and stir-fry it to achieve the "crispy" requirement of Mapo Tofu.

The beef cubes are crispy and delicious, melting on the tongue as soon as you sip it. Only this kind of texture can be called "crispy".

The eight-character motto, also called the eight-character requirements, are the rules that need to be followed when making Mapo tofu. The eight characters are:

Numb, spicy, hot, fragrant, crispy, tender, fresh and lively!

The first seven words are basically not controversial, but for the word "live" at the end, some people say it is "wrapped", some people say it is "bundled", some people say it is "whole", and some people say it should be "crisp". ".

The good eight-character motto became a twelve-character motto.

Well, since there can be more than a dozen universities in the top five, there seems to be nothing unacceptable if the motto has twelve characters.

Cut the beef and place it in a bowl. Sprinkle a little salt, then add a little light soy sauce, cooking wine and pepper. Stir and beat a few times, and set aside to marinate.

When cooking beef normally, you cannot directly add salt and cooking wine, because this will cause the beef to become hard and woody.

But this dish aims for crispy meat. Instead, salt and cooking wine are added to allow the meat to dehydrate and ferment to achieve this effect.

The way of cooking is really fickle.

After the beef cubes were marinated, Lin Xu scooped two spoonfuls of bean paste and placed it on the cutting board, then chopped it into fine pieces with a kitchen knife.

In this dish, the bean paste plays a role in coloring, flavoring, and aroma. In order for the effect to appear quickly, the bean paste needs to be chopped finely.

The more chopped it is, the faster the bean paste will be fragrant and flavorful, and the red oil effect will be better.

When the bean paste is ready, wash and cut a garlic sprout into small pieces.

Garlic sprouts correspond to the "live" in the eight-character motto. They are green in color and fresh in taste, giving the dishes full vitality and reducing the greasiness of the dishes.

Finally, Lin Xu used a small plate to serve some thick chili noodles.

Chili noodles and bean paste correspond to the "spicy" in the eight-character motto.

The spiciness of douban and chili finally converge into the spiciness of tofu. The spiciness is neither strong nor dry. You can feel the strong aroma of spiciness when you taste it carefully. This is the "spiciness" of Mapo tofu.

After all the ingredients were prepared, Lin Xu set up the frying pan and poured some salad oil and lard into the pan to prepare the chicken cakes.

When making Mapo tofu, there is a step of blanching the tofu.

However, the chicken cake cannot be soaked in water, so it can only be soaked in hot oil once. This can not only increase the flexibility of the appearance of the chicken cake, but also make the chicken cake more fragrant.

While the oil was burning, Lin Xu cut the almost-dried chicken cake into square cubes with a side length of 1.5 centimeters, which was the standard requirement for Mapo Tofu.

Carefully put the cut chicken cake into a large colander, then put it into a 30% hot oil pan and start frying.

Don't rush this step, fry it slowly to dry up the moisture on the surface of the chicken cake, otherwise it will be like "I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry".

When it's almost fried, take it out and rinse it with hot water to remove the fat on the surface of the chicken cake.

After brewing, set aside.

Next comes the cooking part.

Lin Xu set up the wok, moistened it first, and then added cooking oil to the pan.

After the oil is hot, add the beef cubes and stir-fry quickly. While frying, tap the beef cubes in the pot with the back of a spoon to let the moisture inside dissipate faster and achieve the purpose of drying out quickly.

Don't be in a hurry when stir-frying the beef cubes. Stir-fry patiently until there is a rustling sound when you turn it. This means that the surface has been fried.

You can proceed to the next step.

Lin Xu poured the prepared chili noodles into the pot.

Continue to stir-fry to bring out the dryness and pungency of the chili peppers, leaving only the spicy flavor.

Stir-fry until the aroma comes out, add bean paste.

Adding bean paste at this time can not only prevent the chili noodles from being burnt, but also make the red oil more effective.

After frying the red oil, add a large bowl of beef bone stock.

Use stock to increase the fragrance of Mapo tofu. This is the "fragrance" required in the eight-character motto.

But the aroma of beef bone broth alone is not enough, it is too thin. It also needs the aroma of beef cubes, watercress, tofu, garlic sprouts, chili pepper, etc.

All fragrances combined together can become the real "fragrance".

After pouring in the beef bone broth, add some dark soy sauce to the pot to increase the background color, and then add a spoonful of sugar to blend the flavors.

Stir and pour the chicken cake into the large colander.

Here comes the most critical step.

Lin Xu slowly pushed the chicken cakes in the pot with the back of the spoon, fearing that the fragile chicken cakes would be scattered by the back of the spoon.

Fortunately, he had good control over his strength and had done the steps of sliding the pan properly before frying, so the chicken cakes just slipped on the bottom of the pan and were immediately mixed with the soup.

The first step was successful!

Lin Xu covered the pot and let the soup in the pot completely soak into the inside of the chicken cake.

It also allows heat to be transferred in.

The "hot" in the eight-character motto requires that every bite of the tofu must be hot when it comes out of the pot, so it must be cooked properly when cooking.

If the tofu you eat is still cold, it means a huge failure.

According to the nature of the system, it is estimated that it will not even reach the passing level.

While it was simmering in the pot, Lin Xu brought over the pea starch that he had soaked in when making chicken cakes.

After cooking, it is the most classic step of the Mapo Tofu dish, and also the most difficult step - thickening.

For those who know how to cook, thickening is not difficult.

The difficulty is that it has to be ticked three times, and the effect is different each time.

As for the interval, the amount of thickening and the concentration of thickening each time, they are also different from time to time.

Without a master chef, this dish would never be available.

Lifting the lid of the pot, Lin Xu scooped out the starch water with a spoon. At this time, the pea starch in the pot had precipitated and the water powder separated, so it needed to be stirred before use.

When stirring for the first time, scoop up half a spoonful of starch and stir the water in the upper layer into starch water.

After stirring, scoop half a spoonful and pour it into the pot in a fan shape.

This step is to make the soup thicker, so use more and pour it evenly.

After splashing, use the back of a spoon to push the chicken cake to mix the soup in the pot evenly and let the water starch do its work.

Wait until the soup in the pot thickens, then use a spoon to dip into the starch water, dig out the precipitated starch below and stir it with a spoon, so that the slightly thick starch water becomes thicker.

Scoop up half of the cooking spoon and pour it into the pot again.

This step is to make the ingredients tender, so pour as much as possible on the chicken cakes in the pot.

Let the pieces of chicken cake be covered with starch, which not only locks in moisture, but also makes the surface of the ingredients tender and smooth. This is the "tender" in the eight-character motto.

Lin Xu pushed and turned the pot again, and finally used a spoon to dig out a little starch on the bottom of the pot. After digging out, he poured out the excess water on the spoon, and then hooked the thick starch in the spoon into the pot.

This step is to allow the soup to coat the ingredients.

It is also a well-known technique of "stuffing soup with gravy" in Sichuan cuisine.

The so-called gravy is a cooking method in which the soup is wrapped on the surface of the ingredients. The fish-flavored shredded pork in Sichuan cuisine is a typical representative of this type of dish.

After completing this step, the soup in the pot has completely tightened and is all tightly wrapped around the chicken cake.

The ruddy color and rich fragrance make people want to try it.

But I can’t taste it yet.

Lin Xu poured in the chopped garlic sprouts, stirred twice, and then poured the food in the pot into a large bowl.

The authentic recipe of Mapo Tofu must be served in a bowl. Only in this way can it achieve the "hot" in the eight-character motto, and your mouth will always be hot when you eat it.

If it is served on a plate, the heat will dissipate early, and the mouth-burning feeling will disappear within a few minutes, and the essence of Mapo Tofu will be lost.

After serving, use a small spoon to scoop out the freshly ground Sichuan peppercorn powder and sprinkle it on. The word "Ma" in the eight-character motto is returned to its place, and it is ready to be served and tasted.

"Holy crap! What kind of food is this?"

When Lin Xu was cooking just now, although Zhuang Yizhou and the others were watching, no one dared to speak for fear of disturbing Lin Xu.

Now that the dishes are out, everyone feels like they can finally breathe.

“Holy shit, I actually use chicken cakes to make mapo tofu, this is amazing!”

"I witnessed a miracle!"

"This tastes absolutely amazing!"

Wei Gan sniffed and shouted not far away:

"Che boy, come on, let's have a good meal. You have to try the boss's cooking today!"

————————

Sorry, everyone, when I was writing, I just wanted to write out this dish so that everyone can enjoy it, but I accidentally ended up writing it now, and the word count is almost 7,000. I originally wanted to put a poison in the Easter egg chapter, but I couldn't find a satisfactory picture of Mapo Tofu after searching for a long time. I was quite disappointed.

Please vote for me, brothers, I will continue to update 10,000 words tomorrow!